Top Issue Road Worthiness Testing

At the European Parliament in Strasbourg MEPs voted yesterday, 11th March 2014 and accepted the deal with member states on minimum common standards for periodic vehicle inspections, vehicle registration documents and roadside inspections of commercial vehicles.

The announcement in 2012 of a proposal change to the present European Directive included the introduction of extending mandatory periodical testing for Powered Two Wheelers.

After final negotiations in December 2013, with the European Parliament and the European Council on the Road Worthiness Test (RWT) Package, the Lithuanian Presidency of The Council announced that heavy motorcycles would be subject to periodic roadworthiness tests from 2022.

However giving breathing space to those motorcyclists in European Member States (11 – member states) who do not have mandatory RWT (MoT) for motorcycles and whose rider organisations who have been fighting hard against mandatory RWT, the compromise news is that those Member States may:

“Exclude these vehicles from testing if they have put in place alternative effective road safety measures, taking into account in particular road safety statistics of the 5 years.

If heavy motorcycles are included in the scope of periodic roadworthiness testing, specific testing methods, inspection areas and frequency are decided at the Member State level.”

ptitesttextsmallHeavy motorcycles in this context are (L-vehicles with an engine displacement of more than 125 cm3) Categories – Click Here

For light motorcycles – within five years the Commission will submit to the European Parliament and the Council a report on the effectiveness of their possible inclusion in the scope of the directive.

The proposed Regulation is now a Directive, hence the flexibility of the derogations regarding motorcycles.

Also contained in the compromise to the proposal is the “provision that in a case of a re-registration of a vehicle from other Member State, Member State have to recognize a valid roadworthiness certificate, issued by other Member State.”

“Final Compromise”

With this “final compromise” text agreed the final vote is down to the elected body of MEPs at the European Parliament – but remember the European Committee of MEPs (Tran Committee) deleted motorcycles from the proposal, however when presented to the body of MEPs at the European Parliament they voted motorcycles back into their amendments to the proposal. However this an agreed position by all parties concerned and should make it through the Parliament.

For the UK with our own RWT through our MoT it looks like there is no major change or shake up to our system of testing.

As we have said all along our view is simply that, different countries with different situations require a different solution and that this must always be a national decision based on the needs and requirements of each country and their citizens.

So no matter who wrote a letter whether as an individual or part of a riders organisation, lobbed their MEP, their Government, the European Commission, signed a petition, went to the European Parliament or rode in demonstrations – every little action helped!

RWT News & Information

You can view all our news and reports on RWT from September 2010.

View latest news on RWT – Click Here

View all our releases on RWT – Click Here.

View Our Documents on RWT – Click Here

Road Worthiness Testing Milestones

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We will have a go and first we go back to the start, look at some milestones and what else has been happening up to now:

  • September 2010 – We responded to a European Commission internet consultation relating to Periodic Technical Inspections (PTI) for motor vehicles and their trailers. What has evolved from the online consultation and the (lack of) information available is chaos.  The Commission has simply stated its intent to extend PTI to 2 wheeled vehicles (mopeds, scooters and motorcycles) across Europe through a harmonised system.
  • October 2011 – The Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA) reports that representatives of the Federation from FFMC France, MAG Netherlands and NMCU Norway delivered the bulk of 110,000 signatures, at the seat of the Commission in Brussels, from citizens across Europe opposing EU Commission plans to make Periodical Technical Inspections (PTI) mandatory for motorcycles.
  • July 2012 – The European Commission announced its proposal for a regulation for European wide Road Worthiness Testing (RWT) – previously known as Periodic Technical Inspections. The announcement included changes to the present European Directive including the introduction of extending mandatory periodical testing for Powered Two Wheelers.
  • euparliamentridersjuly2013pic5September 2012 – A demo run organised by MAG Netherlands in Brussels in co-ordination with MAG Belgium with support from NMCU (Norwegian riders organisation) and various other rider organisations that are attached to the Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations. The French riders group FFMC (Fédération Française des Motards en Colère – French Federation of Angry Bikers – mobilised riders across France and in Belgium.The FBMC, a separate riders’ organisation in Belgium also demonstrated in Brussels. In Ireland, a demo was held by MAG Ireland in the centre of Dublin against the European Commission’s proposal. Also in France a dozen FFMC activists blocked the entrance of headquarters of DEKRA. DEKRA is the leading inspection, certification services and claims management in the fields of Automotive, Transport and Industry. We are informed that the “activists” blocked the entrance and with the involvement of a dump truck, poured 1 ton of gravel in front of the doors! Moto Magazine reports that, “At the same time, activists equipped with oil, eggs and flour, covered the front of the building, under the gaze of stunned employees.
  • December 2012 – The Council of the European Union agreed a general approach on a draft directive updating the common rules on periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles. For motorcycling, the so called general approach does not retain the Commission’s proposal to extend periodic tests to motorcycles.
  • bikeeyeshandsJanuary 2013 – The TRAN (Transport and Tourism) Committee of MEPs holds a public hearing, involving two expert panels, on roadworthiness checks and road safety as well as their impact on citizens and business. Riders organistions are not happy that they are not included as experts. The FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) has a place at the hearing, the FIA say they represent 8 million motorcyclists! FEMA is not happy!
  • April 2013 – The UK MEP Brian Simpson (Chairman of the Transport And Tourism Committee), astounded motorcyclists with his comment at the end of a discussion about the Road Worthiness Testing (RWT) proposal (which his committee is tasked to examine on behalf of the European parliament) that he was astounded that 12 member states do not have testing for motorcycles and more importantly, that they are the “biggest death carrier on our roads.”
  • April 2013 – The EU parliament’s (Internal Market and Consumer Protection) IMCO Committee voted for the proposal to become a Directive (in line with the EU Council’s position). A Directive means that countries would have far greater leeway in deciding on how this proposal is applied in each member state. IMCO also voted for motorcycles to be excluded leaving Member States to decide on national rules which for the likes of Great Britain, independent operators/garages could remain as repair and testing centres too.Another  amendment adopted said that no later than three years that the Commission would submit a report to assess the road safety situation for motorcycles in order to assess whether roadworthiness testing of the two- or three-wheel vehicles should be introduced with if appropriate, by legislative proposals.
  • bikerepair

    May 2013 – The Transport (TRAN – Transport and Tourism) Committee of MEPs, which represents the European Parliaments position, voted on amendments and ruled motorcycles  out of the European Commission’s roadworthiness test package.

  • June 2013 – Siim Kallas the Vice-President of the European Commission, attended a road safety conference in Brussels organised by ETSC (European Transport Safety Council). Mr Kallas keeps up the European Commission use of quoted figures for motorcyclist collisions and injuries caused by mechanical defects. The Commission’s assumption is that 8% of accidents involving motorcycles are caused by technical defects is based on a single DEKRA Motorcycle Road Safety Report (2010).The Impact Assessment Unit for the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) says, “Whereas the larger part of the data used by the Commission seem to be sufficiently robust, the basic assumption that better and more frequent technical inspections would lead to fewer defects in vehicles seems not to be supported by evidence at all.Moreover, the further link between fewer defects in vehicles and the avoidance of accidents also seems less firmly established. With regard to motorcycles, this seems to be contradicted by other OECD and European Commission statistics, indicating that such a clear relationship between motorcycle fatalities and technical testing of motorcycles might not exist.”
  • femarwtJuly 2013 – Parliament agreed on and voted on amendments to the proposal, this included to reintroduce motorcycles into the Road Worthiness package. These amendments were against the position/opinion of the TRAN Committee and had a majority of just 56 votes. However a vote on the proposals to be accepted by Parliament was postponed and the parliament’s position was referred back to the TRAN (Transport and Tourism) committee so that an agreement could be reached between Parliament – Council – Commission for a first reading in the parliament.Several of the rider organisations and their  representatives were present at the vote in Strasbourg including, Morten Hansen (NMCU – Norway), Eric Thiollier (FFMC – France), Dolf Willigers (MAG NL Netherlands) and Chris Hodder (BMF – United Kingdom).
  • July 2013 – The TRAN committee voted in favour of a mandate to enter into negotiations with the Council and the Commission to head for an agreement on a common position for a vote in the European Parliament for the introduction of this legislation package  – or not! These Trialogues start in September.
  • December 2013 – After final negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Council on the Road Worthiness Test (RWT) Package, the Lithuanian Presidency of The Council announced that heavy motorcycles would be subject to periodic roadworthiness tests from 2022. However member states could exclude heavy motorcycles  from testing if they have put in place alternative effective road safety measures, taking into account in particular road safety statistics of the 5 years. If heavy motorcycles are included in the scope of periodic roadworthiness testing, specific testing methods, inspection areas and frequency are decided at the Member State level. Heavy motorcycles in this context are (L-vehicles with an engine displacement of more than 125 cm3). For light motorcycles – within five years the Commission will submit to the European Parliament and the Council a report on the effectiveness of their possible inclusion in the scope of the directive.
  • Everybody against the inclusion of motorcycles appears to be “chuffed to bits!”
  • March 2014 – At the European Parliament in Strasbourg MEPs voted on 11th March 2014 and accepted the deal with member states on minimum common standards for periodic vehicle inspections, vehicle registration documents and roadside inspections of commercial vehicles.

Procedure Files – ‘Roadworthiness Package’

The procedure file from the Legislative Observatory of the European Parliament regarding:

Periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers.

Procedure File: Click Here

Registration documents for vehicles. ‘Roadworthiness package’

Procedure File: Click Here

Technical roadside inspection of the roadworthiness of commercial vehicles circulating in the Union. ‘Roadworthiness package’

Procedure File: Click Here

Transport  and Tourism (TRAN)

rwtresponsibilitiescoverCommittee of MEPs responsable Transport and Tourism (TRAN)

MEP committees who will be offering an opinion:

Environment, Public Health and Food Safety “ENVI) – The committee decided not to give an opinion.

Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE)Opinion published – pdf document

Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO)Opinion published – pdf document

European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) consultative body of the European Union – Opinion Published – Word Document

European Commission Package

europeancommissionlogoProposal for a Regulation on periodic roadworthiness tests – pdf – 86kb – Click Here

Annex to Proposal for a Regulation on periodic roadworthiness tests – pdf 27kb – Click Here

Proposal for a Directive amending Directive 1999_37 on registration documents for vehicles-  pdf – 47kb – Click Here

Road worthiness package – Commission website – 13th July 2012 –  Click Here

Library of the European Parliament

A page published on the Library of the European Parliaments website which gives detailed information on the “Roadworthiness Package”.

From links to the European Commissions presentation of the three legislative proposals contained in the Roadworthiness Package to overviews, analysis, Stake holder views, NGO views, Producers views, Statistics and EU Programmes and projects.

Library of the European Parliament – Click Here

Links Information

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Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers and repealing Directive 2009/40/EC – pdf 179kb – Click Here

Press release from the Council of the EU of 29th October – pdf 206kb – Click Here 

House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee: Periodic Roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers: Reasoned Opinion – pdf 769kb – Click Here

Written statement by the Rt Hon Patrick McLoughlin MP, Secretary of State for Transport – Click Here

Draconian European Vehicle Testing must not come to Northern Ireland, Committee urges – Click Here

Impact Assessment

These documents look at the European Commissions Impact Assessment which was was launched at the beginning of 2010. An Impact Assessment Steering Group (IASG) was set-up in July 2010, there was a public consultation and the experts have met. The proposal includes the  inclusion of powered-two wheelers in vehicle inspections.

Impact Assessment pdf – 750kb – Click Here

Impact Assessment Study –  pdf – 2mb – Click Here

Summary of the Impact Assessment –  pdf 58kb – Click Here

Related Documents

AUTOFORE – Study on the Future Options for Roadworthiness Enforcement in the European Union – 2007 – pdf 901kb – Click Here

DEKRA – Motorcycle Road Safety Report 2010 – Strategies for preventing accidents on the roads of Europe – pdf 5.4mb – Click Here